Ghana - Establishment of the Commercial Court
An often-repeated remark about George Kingsley Acquah, Ghana's chief justice from 2003 until 2007 and driver of his country's major judicial reforms was that "it took a man like him for this to happen". The author certainly subs...
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| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/12/9880229/ghana-establishment-commercial-court-ghana-establishment-commercial-court http://hdl.handle.net/10986/10627 |
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okr-10986-106272021-04-23T14:02:51Z Ghana - Establishment of the Commercial Court Cofie, Sandra ABUSE ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACCOUNTANT ADJUDICATION ADVISORY SERVICES BAILIFF BEST PRACTICES BUSINESS LAW CASE MANAGEMENT COMMERCIAL COURT COMMERCIAL COURTS COMMERCIAL DEBT COMMERCIAL DISPUTE COMMERCIAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION COMMERCIAL JUDGE CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT CORRUPTION COURT COURT ADMINISTRATOR COURT ADMINISTRATORS COURT OF APPEALS COURT ORGANIZATION COURT PRACTICE COURT SYSTEM COURTS DEFAULT JUDGMENT DEMOCRACY DISBURSEMENT DISPUTE RESOLUTION GENDER GOOD GOVERNANCE HUMAN RIGHTS INITIATIVE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY JUDGE JUDGES JUDICIAL COUNCIL JUDICIAL PERSONNEL JUDICIAL REFORM JUDICIAL REFORMS JUDICIAL SERVICE JUDICIAL TRAINING JUDICIARY JURISDICTION JUSTICE JUSTICE SYSTEM LAWYER LAWYERS LEGAL EDUCATION LEGAL PERSONNEL LEGAL SYSTEM LEGISLATION MEDIATION MEDIATORS PROFESSIONALS REGULATORY STRUCTURE RULES OF PROCEDURES SALARIES SERVICE DELIVERY TRAINING FOR JUDGES TRIAL WILL An often-repeated remark about George Kingsley Acquah, Ghana's chief justice from 2003 until 2007 and driver of his country's major judicial reforms was that "it took a man like him for this to happen". The author certainly subscribe to this view, having observed his impact from position as director of the judicial reform, project development and implementation unit at the judicial service of Ghana. Doubtless, most prominent reform is the establishment of the commercial division at the High Court in Accra, the first commercial court in Ghana, and possibly the most significant addition to the judicial service since independence. After decades of political turmoil that had left behind a disrupted court system, the reform not only brought about shorter delays to commercial dispute resolution. It also instilled new spirit in Ghana's justice sector. In light of Ghana's policy objective of becoming a middle income country by 2020, the state of legal affairs looked dire a mere 10 years ago. Military rule had given way to an emerging democracy only in the 1990s. In 1982, three judges had been murdered, and the following years witnessed a severe lack of judicial personnel and resources. More than half of posts in district courts were vacant, backlog and delays in adjudication persistent. The legal system was a slow, erratic, inconsistent and costly environment, hostile to the effective performance of the judicial function. Ghanaian businesses suffered: diagnosis of the commonwealth secretariat and the World Bank described contract enforcement as generally inadequate. Long delays and corruption made uncertainty in contract enforcement pervasive and posed a major obstacle to doing business in Ghana. 2012-08-13T12:28:01Z 2012-08-13T12:28:01Z 2007-12 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/12/9880229/ghana-establishment-commercial-court-ghana-establishment-commercial-court http://hdl.handle.net/10986/10627 English IFC Smart Lessons Brief CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Brief Publications & Research Africa Ghana |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
ABUSE ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACCOUNTANT ADJUDICATION ADVISORY SERVICES BAILIFF BEST PRACTICES BUSINESS LAW CASE MANAGEMENT COMMERCIAL COURT COMMERCIAL COURTS COMMERCIAL DEBT COMMERCIAL DISPUTE COMMERCIAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION COMMERCIAL JUDGE CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT CORRUPTION COURT COURT ADMINISTRATOR COURT ADMINISTRATORS COURT OF APPEALS COURT ORGANIZATION COURT PRACTICE COURT SYSTEM COURTS DEFAULT JUDGMENT DEMOCRACY DISBURSEMENT DISPUTE RESOLUTION GENDER GOOD GOVERNANCE HUMAN RIGHTS INITIATIVE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY JUDGE JUDGES JUDICIAL COUNCIL JUDICIAL PERSONNEL JUDICIAL REFORM JUDICIAL REFORMS JUDICIAL SERVICE JUDICIAL TRAINING JUDICIARY JURISDICTION JUSTICE JUSTICE SYSTEM LAWYER LAWYERS LEGAL EDUCATION LEGAL PERSONNEL LEGAL SYSTEM LEGISLATION MEDIATION MEDIATORS PROFESSIONALS REGULATORY STRUCTURE RULES OF PROCEDURES SALARIES SERVICE DELIVERY TRAINING FOR JUDGES TRIAL WILL |
| spellingShingle |
ABUSE ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACCOUNTANT ADJUDICATION ADVISORY SERVICES BAILIFF BEST PRACTICES BUSINESS LAW CASE MANAGEMENT COMMERCIAL COURT COMMERCIAL COURTS COMMERCIAL DEBT COMMERCIAL DISPUTE COMMERCIAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION COMMERCIAL JUDGE CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT CORRUPTION COURT COURT ADMINISTRATOR COURT ADMINISTRATORS COURT OF APPEALS COURT ORGANIZATION COURT PRACTICE COURT SYSTEM COURTS DEFAULT JUDGMENT DEMOCRACY DISBURSEMENT DISPUTE RESOLUTION GENDER GOOD GOVERNANCE HUMAN RIGHTS INITIATIVE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY JUDGE JUDGES JUDICIAL COUNCIL JUDICIAL PERSONNEL JUDICIAL REFORM JUDICIAL REFORMS JUDICIAL SERVICE JUDICIAL TRAINING JUDICIARY JURISDICTION JUSTICE JUSTICE SYSTEM LAWYER LAWYERS LEGAL EDUCATION LEGAL PERSONNEL LEGAL SYSTEM LEGISLATION MEDIATION MEDIATORS PROFESSIONALS REGULATORY STRUCTURE RULES OF PROCEDURES SALARIES SERVICE DELIVERY TRAINING FOR JUDGES TRIAL WILL Cofie, Sandra Ghana - Establishment of the Commercial Court |
| geographic_facet |
Africa Ghana |
| relation |
IFC Smart Lessons Brief |
| description |
An often-repeated remark about George
Kingsley Acquah, Ghana's chief justice from 2003 until
2007 and driver of his country's major judicial reforms
was that "it took a man like him for this to
happen". The author certainly subscribe to this view,
having observed his impact from position as director of the
judicial reform, project development and implementation unit
at the judicial service of Ghana. Doubtless, most prominent
reform is the establishment of the commercial division at
the High Court in Accra, the first commercial court in
Ghana, and possibly the most significant addition to the
judicial service since independence. After decades of
political turmoil that had left behind a disrupted court
system, the reform not only brought about shorter delays to
commercial dispute resolution. It also instilled new spirit
in Ghana's justice sector. In light of Ghana's
policy objective of becoming a middle income country by
2020, the state of legal affairs looked dire a mere 10 years
ago. Military rule had given way to an emerging democracy
only in the 1990s. In 1982, three judges had been murdered,
and the following years witnessed a severe lack of judicial
personnel and resources. More than half of posts in district
courts were vacant, backlog and delays in adjudication
persistent. The legal system was a slow, erratic,
inconsistent and costly environment, hostile to the
effective performance of the judicial function. Ghanaian
businesses suffered: diagnosis of the commonwealth
secretariat and the World Bank described contract
enforcement as generally inadequate. Long delays and
corruption made uncertainty in contract enforcement
pervasive and posed a major obstacle to doing business in Ghana. |
| format |
Publications & Research :: Brief |
| author |
Cofie, Sandra |
| author_facet |
Cofie, Sandra |
| author_sort |
Cofie, Sandra |
| title |
Ghana - Establishment of the Commercial Court |
| title_short |
Ghana - Establishment of the Commercial Court |
| title_full |
Ghana - Establishment of the Commercial Court |
| title_fullStr |
Ghana - Establishment of the Commercial Court |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Ghana - Establishment of the Commercial Court |
| title_sort |
ghana - establishment of the commercial court |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2012 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/12/9880229/ghana-establishment-commercial-court-ghana-establishment-commercial-court http://hdl.handle.net/10986/10627 |
| _version_ |
1764413791292882944 |